A community leader and further president of the Rahei Foron Youth Congress, Ayuba Pam Choji, has been reportedly stabbed to death by bandits suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
According to a youth leader in the community, Moses Dung, who confirmed the incident to newsmen on Friday, the 44-year-old Choji was ambushed on Wednesday night along the Kumex–Mararaba–Foron axis of the Heipang–Foron Road, where the bandits attacked him and another man who were going home on a motorcycle.
Dung said before the killing of Choji, the residents had received several threats from the Fulani community warning them to vacate the area or they would soon experience bloodshed.
“Before now, we have been receiving threats to leave our community. And last night, the assailants suddenly emerged from hiding and attacked two people moving on a motorcycle without provocation. They stabbed Ayuba Pam Choji, and sadly, he gave up the ghost. According to the survivor, the assailants ambushed them as they rode through the area,,” Dung said in a statement made available to journalists.
Reacting to the attack in a statement, National Publicity Secretary of Berom Youth Moulders Association (BYM, Rwang Tengwong, described the killing of Choji as not only barbaric and unprovoked, but a testament to the fact that Fulani people are on a mission to chase out Berom people and grab their lands.
While urging security agencies to investigate and bring those responsible for the killing of the youth leader to justice, Tengwong.The BYM stated that it was concerned about the suspicious and unchecked movements of armed elements across several local government areas in Plateau, and called for intensified security patrols and protection of rural communities and farming corridors.
